Review: THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE Explores What it Takes to Unravel a Mid-Life Crisis

With more than twenty-five plays, three screenplays and numerous books to his credit, American actor, screenwriter, playwright and female impersonator Charles Busch is known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote and starred in his early plays off-off-Broadway beginning in 1978, generally in drag roles, and also acted in the works of other playwrights. He also wrote for television and began to act in films and on television in the late 1990s.

His offbeat comedy "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife" is probably his best-known and most "normal" play, which was a hit on Broadway running for more than 700 performances. It was nominated for several Tony awards including Best Play (Mr. Busch), Best Actress (Linda Lavin) and Best Featured Actress (Michele Lee), and can now be seen onstage at Theatre Palisades' Pierson Playhouse through December 11.

The play explores the Upper West Side milieu of aspiring intellectual and middle-aged upper class matron Marjorie Taub, who lives comfortably with her doctor husband Ira in an expensively furnished apartment near Zabar's in New York City. Marjorie (Lauren Leitner who has mastered more lines with literary references than any play I have recently seen) spends her mornings at the Whitney, afternoons at MOMA and evenings at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music. Her ongoing effort to improve her mind and soul has brought her to the conclusion she never will be more than mediocre.

To make matters worse, her therapist has just died and coupled with her dissatisfaction with her life, her elderly Jewish mother Frieda Tuchman (Lois Bostwick who hobbles around on a cane but still looks young enough to be Marjorie's sister) lives in a small studio apartment down the hall and spends most of her time at Marjorie's complaining about her irregular bowel movements and repeated colonoscopies, usually when Marjorie and her husband are eating. I am sure most Jewish mothers and daughters will recognize and laugh at themselves during much of the duo's dialogue, which was certainly the case for my mother and I when we saw it together!

Marjorie also has to endure her husband Ira's (Phil Bartolf who portrays the allergist's boastful character to a tee), altruistic dedication to the homeless rather than her own, all of which recently led her to having an emotional outburst in a Disney Store resulting in considerable breakage and personal rehab. It seems her only friend to sit and have a chat with is the building's doorman Mohammed (Bradley Orok) who occasionally drops by to assist Marjorie with household tasks, enjoy a cup of tea, and learn from her philosophical ramblings about art and literature, especially the novel "Siddhartha" by the German author Herman Hesse. What a life!

Plunged into a mid-life crisis of Medea-like proportions, Marjorie is shaken out of her lethargy by the reappearance of Lee Green, portrayed beautifully by sophisticated Kim Kensington who name drops easily like the pro poser she is playing. And while Lee appears to be a fascinating and a somewhat mysterious childhood friend, you will begin to wonder, just as the other characters do, exactly who she is and the reason she just happened to drop by the Taub apartment without being noticed by the doorman. Is she real or just a figment of Marjorie's needy imagination? And when Lee unexpectedly becomes entrenched in the Taub household as a seemingly permanent guest, what happens next surprises all of them as well as the audience!

Leitner and Bartolf are a treat as the long-married couple who decide to follow Lee's suggestion to bring back excitement and sexual longing into their relationship. And while her plan does lead the three into the bedroom together, the couple's guilt and embarrassment afterwards changes everything.

In the process of entrenching herself even further, Lee manages to get Marjorie and her mother to sit down and apologize to each other for being occasional "assholes" to each other, even though you sense neither one really means it, especially given how director Ria Parody Erlich has directed the scene with the two women barely looking at each other. You can tell Ms. Erlich is very familiar with the push me-pull-you parent-child relationship ever present in typical Jewish families.

After Lee convinces Frieda to donate $5,000 to her cause, which Mohammed warns supports terrorists in the Middle East, the Taubs ask Lee to leave their home immediately. Upon her departure, it is very apparent that the lesson learned by all is that what really matters in life is love, and that theirs can survive anything. Appropriately, Sound Designer Susan Stangl ends the show perfectly with the Beatles most appropriate song, "All You Need is Love."

Theatre Palisades presents "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife" by Charles Busch continues through December 11, 2016 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. at the Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Rd., Pacific Palisades 90272, directed by Ria Parody Erlich and produced by Martha Hunter and Pat Perkins. Tickets are $20 general admission with seniors and students at $18, and may be ordered by calling the box office (310) 454-1970 or online at www.theatrepalisades.com. Free onsite parking.

Photo credit: Joy Daunis

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